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Team-By-Team: Monaco GP
It was a largely disappointing weekend for
McLaren in Monaco, coming away from the
race with just ten points compared to Red
Bull's 43 and putting them firmly on the back
foot in the constructors' championship. After
pushing his car to the limit in qualifying,
Hamilton took fifth on the grid and after
failing to make up any places at the start he
had to settle for fifth at the flag, not helped by
overheating brakes from half-distance. Team-
mate Button didn't even get that far after
stopping on lap three with an overheating
engine. A cooling cover was accidentally left
on his car on the lap to the grid and the early-
race safety car put paid to any chances of
getting the engine cooled down.
Pole position, a victory, a second place, the
fastest race lap and every single race lap led --
the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix could not have
gone any better for the new championship
leaders. Everyone knew their one second
advantage from Barcelona would be eroded in
Monte Carlo, but they were still a cut above the
opposition.
Webber drove peerlessly throughout the
weekend and was uncatchable in the race,
while Vettel did what he had to do and jumped
Kubica into turn one to take second.
In spite of his solid early-season form he was
no match for Webber and will have to dig deep
in the forthcoming races to knock the Aussie
from his perch.
Right from Thursday practice when Kubica
was troubling the leaders at the top of the
timesheets, great things were expected of the
Pole. After claiming his first front row start in
two years on Saturday a fairytale Monaco GP
victory looked just about possible but in the
end he had to settle for third and his second
podium finish of the year.
Starting from the dirty side of the grid,
Kubica predictably fell behind Vettel into
turn one where he stayed for the rest of the
race.
Petrov was taken from contention for points
after a puncture before half-distance and he
then retired before the finish as a result of
damage caused by the puncture.
Having gone fastest in Q2 on Saturday, Nico
Rosberg will be rightly miffed at coming
away with just six points from the weekend,
dropping him from second to eighth in the
championship. Traffic and an error in the
crucial Q3 session put him sixth on the grid
but a poor start pushed him back to eighth
immediately.
He only gained a place to seventh after
Schumacher's controversial 20-second
penalty.
The seven-times champion was informed
by his team that he could overtake into the
final corner, but the stewards ruled that he
couldn't, dropping him from a well-earned
sixth to 12th and outside the points.
A double points finish was a real hope for
Williams after qualifying ninth and eleventh
on Saturday, but a glance at the results sheet
on Sunday told a far different story. Things
began to unravel for the team before the
race got underway when Nico Hulkenberg
was relegated to the back after a clutch
problem stopped him from getting off the
dummy grid in time. He then crashed out
halfway around the first lap after a front
wing failure threw him into the barriers of
the tunnel at high speed. Barrichello then
bit the dust on lap 30 from tenth after a
failure at the rear of the car pitched him into
the barriers at Massenet. The team is now
investigating both failures.
It was definitely a case of 'what could have
been' for Fernando Alonso in Monaco, after
coming from 24th to sixth with a storming
drive and staying within striking distance of
the championship leaders.
The Spaniard crashed on Saturday morning
after dominating practice, and was forced
to start from the pitlane, but an early stop to
change tyres behind the safety car brought
him into contention for serious points.
He passed five cars on-track and leapt up
the order when those ahead pitted, eventually
securing sixth once Schumacher had been
penalised.
Felipe Massa stays in title contention too
with fourth, finishing where he started.